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Often: The fortress isn't meant to protect them. It's meant to entertain me.

On Occassion: We all need a bit of dark laughter now and then.

When necessary: As a means to an end, I'll kill a dwarf to save a dozen.

Never: The world is dangerous enough.

[VerdantSF]

I trade with the elves and humans as much as possible and I prefer the idea of maintaining good relations with other "good" races whilst killing goblins and kobolds. I am often a bit dissatisfied with my ability to protect incoming caravans short of flooding the field with large numbers of high quality soldiers (which im just about getting up to). Ive tried various gates and walls containing marksdwarves, also multiple trade depots. Ive never successfully built an underground exit for caravans.

Same here.  My fort doesn't have native iron, so trade was crucial before I had enough steel to mine goblinite safely.  The elves also saved my fort from a serious famine when I forgot to adjust Seedwatch and let the game run in the background for a few hours.  Underground exits can be dangerous due to forgotten beasts and other cavern creatures, but using underground pathways that connect to the surface can help out a lot.

Early on, I created an underground trade network with 12 access points to the surface.  It allows migrants, caravans, and diplomats to quickly path to safety, no matter where they appear on the map.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 

[sirdave79]

LOL, thats a familiar pic!

I think ive clapped eyes on that exact pic before when considering a project like that. I cant remember why it didnt make sense or I didnt think I could make it work but ill have to revisit that.

Cheers VerdantSF

[VerdantSF]

It might seem a little daunting at first, but if you make it in Quickfort, you only have to do it once.  Speaking of which, if you're on a 3x3 map, I can just send you my blueprint .

[sirdave79]

7 x 7 on the current fort. Was probably a mistake. I figured I wanted loads of metal, Having dug up probably only 1 percent of whats there and having most of the weapons and armour I need this is ridiculous overkill.

Next time itll be 3 x 3.

Getting about 35 fps atm, will be interesting to see what I get at a population of 160.

Thanks for the offer tho.

[VerdantSF]

The FPS hit on my pc for 7x7 would be pretty harsh.  35 fps isn't bad at all, considering the size!

[sirdave79]

No im reasonably happy. Its running on an I5 at 2.5Ghz not overclocked.

It would actually be better I think to have a smaller embark at this point. I dont need all that space.

[Artinnio]

I usually have two fortresses in one.
One is the Surface fort which is very slum like with poor living, death and terrible food, rubbish clothes and little luxuries. I call these Dwarves "Unproven." They have to prove their worth to my society before they enter the fort proper (or survive for long enough). They usually get the dangerous jobs. They don't get buried either, just have their bodies tossed into a heap at the side of the road.

The Deep fort goes the completely opposite way: Multi-level halls, double-helix entry ramp with glass dome, smooth and engraved floors/walls, personal 3x2 rooms with good furniture, nice clothing (sometimes dyed if they are really lucky) lava under glass floors, gold statues, the lot. Excellent healthcare and grand food. The Proven dwarves usually have pets too and so are generally happy.

All Dwarves, including Nobility have to perform in the military for at least two seasons, complete with danger rooms, swimming training, live training. The better the warriors, the better their equipment. (Unproven militia usually has leather armour and whatever weaponry they can get, but the Proven gets iron and then the truly proficient soldiers get steel.) Training is brutal for the military but it pays off.

My dungeon is bleak, chained to a narrow walkway, abysmal conditions and I have the option of containing and killing them if they tantrum. POW's get it even worse. Chained to the outer walls or stuck in cages or used as live training dummies. Or if they are lucky, fed to whatever beasts I keep as pets. Sometimes I wait until they are beaten to a pulp, then call off my warriors and take them captive again, just to prolong their suffering. Oh and Elves... I usually hold them captive and torture them for giggles. Then I either chain them to the Throne room pillars, or kill them and decorate the throne room with their skulls.

On the outside my society is bleak and holds little hope for my dorfs until they prove themselves, then they live in luxury... The trick is just to survive that long...

[Larix]

I usually have two fortresses in one.
One is the Surface fort which is very slum like with poor living,[description of a typical goblin-run dwarf fort...]

Well, that's certainly a definition of "trying to be a good, moral overlord" i hadn't come across yet.

[Artinnio]

I usually have two fortresses in one.
One is the Surface fort which is very slum like with poor living,[description of a typical goblin-run dwarf fort...]

Well, that's certainly a definition of "trying to be a good, moral overlord" i hadn't come across yet.

Well... Good to those who are worthy then

[kiwiphoenix]

Individual Modest Quarters are a basic right, and noteworthy people can expect a minimum of Decent.
Lavish dining halls, gardens, and other recreation spaces are a regular feature, resources allowing.
Actually enjoy when my people make friends and get married, or take well-earned breaks.
Try to respect the dead. Use a graveyard setup, with a slab above a buried coffin. Pets get buried in mass-graves.
Some special treatment is inevitable - occasionally there are shortages. But on the whole, happiness and prosperity are my driving goals.
Will sacrifice an individual to save the whole, but picking the victim is always an ordeal...

Don't go so far as to consider personal preferences, though. The state provides the most broadly-accepted view of idyllic, bountiful joy - if you don't like it, you can cry in the corner, sad man. It's like an incredibly saccharine Soviet Union.

[fortydayweekend]

I won't even test entrance-way water/magma traps with dwarves, always waiting for human or elven caravans - even when it's totally hypothetical (i.e. savescumming). So I don't think I'd do anything deliberately malicious.

But I am pretty blase about the lives of the more useless dwarves, who get to haul stuff from the map borders and collect webs in the caverns with no military escorts. They're like an early-warning system, and they always get a nice coffin (of stone).

If their family or friends get upset I might even look at their preferences and if there's something they'd like lying around they can have it. Within reason of course, adamantine is for the military and platinum is for nobles. But if they like gabbro then a gabbro door they get.

I usually have a dining hall/bedroom walkway waterfall (that gets turned on often enough to make 'em happy).

The fortress is generally safe but mining accidents and overseer oversights are common. The 2nd-last fortress well-builder fell 80 z-levels through 2 caverns due to an badly-designated channel, and I once lost an entire fortress to FB-induced rot because I used floor grates instead of actual floors.

[Dwarf4Explosives]

and I once lost an entire fortress to FB-induced rot because I used floor grates instead of actual floors.

I'd like to know how you managed to do that. Did the FB die/get wounded so lots of blood spurted out/walk on the "floor" above your dining room and the syndrome-y stuff just fell through?

[20firebird]

I'm pretty nice to the little guys. Just a few moody dwarves murdered because they freaked out and wouldn't leave the spot it started at and some badgerdog pups slaughtered to keep them from overcrowding and killing each other.

[Di]

I guess I'd qualify as evil overseer by now. Though I've felt quite antagonized by first two lines of poll.
You see, in dwarf measures I'm rather old: by now I've seen a thousand or two of them come and go.
First, you cuddle and protect every of them. Then you learn that last ditch efforts to save one fool can cost lives of dozen.
Then  you grow fed up with hand-carving all those bedrooms and dwarves never get anything fancier than a 2x2 in a square massive and you focus only on your projects to achieve.
One day you start a tantrum spiral just because you've never had that before.
And then you can have a fort with permanent riot for as long as it doesn't create too much disorder in your plans.

[fortydayweekend]

and I once lost an entire fortress to FB-induced rot because I used floor grates instead of actual floors.

I'd like to know how you managed to do that. Did the FB die/get wounded so lots of blood spurted out/walk on the "floor" above your dining room and the syndrome-y stuff just fell through?

The FB randomly belched boiling extract at times, and it would spread about 4 z-levels. My grates were only 3 z-levels above the cavern floor. I meant to get around to flooring it but thought I had more time. The opening was 8 tiles at the bottom of a 3x3 staircase that went all the way straight up to the surface and linked to the dining hall, so it was very busy.